A Bad Student
Instructions: Convert the dialog to a paragraph of reported speech.
Mr. Jones:
Freddy:
Mr. Jones:
Freddy:
Mr. Jones:
Freddy:
Freddy, you aren't doing well in class, and you probably won't pass.
I know that, but I don't have time to study.
Why don't you have time? Can't you make the time?
I have to take my mother to the hospital every day. In fact, I took her there last night.
Are you the only one who can do that?
She doesn't have anybody but me. My father died last year.
Mr. Jones:
Freddy:
Stop taking the class if you have family problems. The stress will kill you.
I may do that even though my mother wants me to continue. She told me to stay in
school.
Don't kill yourself. Take care of your mother until she feels better.
She's not sick. She feels fine.
Why does she have to go to the hospital every day?
She works there. She's a nurse.
Mr. Jones:
Freddy:
Mr. Jones:
Freddy:
Suggested Answer
Mr. Jones told Freddy that he wasn't doing well in class and that he probably wouldn't pass.
Freddy replied that he knew that but that he didn't have time to study. Mr. Jones asked him why he
didn't have time and if he couldn't make the time. Freddy answered that he had to take his mother to
the hospital every day and that, in fact, he had taken her there the night before. Mr. Jones asked him
if he was the only one who could do that. Freddy answered that she didn't have anybody but him
because his father had died the year before.
Mr. Jones told Freddy to stop taking the class if he had family problems because the stress
would kill him. Freddy said that he might do that even though his mother wanted him to continue.
He added that she had told him to stay in school. Mr. Jones told Freddy not to kill himself but to
take care of his mother until she felt better. Freddy told Mr. Jones that she wasn't sick and that she
felt fine. Mr. Jones asked him why she had to go to the hospital every day. Freddy explained that
she worked there and that she was a nurse.
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